Container opener



April 1965 J. T. ATKINSON, JR

CONTAINER OPENER Filed June 13, 1963 United States Patent 3,180,552 CQNTAINER GTENER Jerome T. Atkinson, .Iru, 1523 Elmwood Ave, Wilmette, Ill. Filed June 13, 1963, er. No. 287,609 3 Claims. (61. 229-7) This invention relates to openers for containers and more particularly to openers for boxes of cardboard or the like.

At the present time, boxes containing items such as soap powders, detergents, and cereal are provided with various forms of self-opening tops. These tops includes lines of perforations, opening tabs, pour spouts and many other additions to or treatments of the boxes to facilitate opening. Some of these openers, particularly for items which might become stale or spoiled by contact with air or moisture employ means for maintaining the box top in a closed condition once the factory closure on the box has been opened. The continuing activity by the box manu facturers to find newer and better box openers and top covers points clearly to the conclusion that the expedients now used are less than wholly successful. For example, with soap powders and detergents, the top opening must be sufficiently large to pour large quantities of the powder into washing machines and the like. To pour the quantities involved at a sufliciently rapid rate, the top must be cut back at least one third to one half of its length. The slit back portion should close the opening to inhibit the entrance of moisture into the open box and its contents. The opener should be safe to the user and should not present exposed sharp edges. This combination of features, the present inherent opening aids do not possess.

In the patent art, many patents have shown various forms of externally applicable box openers, but these in themselves do not provide many of the necessary features such as alignment, adjustability, safety and ease of open ing and re-closure.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved box top opener which is readily alignable on a box top of any size for cutting open the box top.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an adjustable box top opener which can be used as a box top closure once'the box has been opened.

t is a still further object of the invention to provide a novel and safe box top slitter usable successively on many boxes in which the cutting edge is recessed to protect the hands of the user.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an opener embodying the principles of the present invention fitted on a box with the box top partially cut through;

FIGURE 2 is a View as FIGURE 1 with the top fully cut and opened to allow dispensing of the box contents;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of an opener embodying the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevational view of the opener of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of the inner member of the opener of FIGURES 1-3 shown in the position it assumes in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE o is a front perspective view of the member shown in FIGURE 5, the member shown in the inverted position; and

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of an inner member of an opener utilizing a variant in blade shape.

3,180,552 Patented Apr. 27, 1965 ice Viewing the drawings in detail, in FIGURES l and 2, there is shown a partially cut through cardboard box 10, of the type used for powdered soap or detergent. The box top 11 of box 10 has aflixed to it a container opener 12 embodying the present invention. The opener 12 as shown in FIGURES 1-3 is assembled using two members, an inner member 14 and an outer member 16. The inner member 14 is shown in detail in FIGURES 4-6. Both members are fabricated of sheet metal such as sheet steel folded to form the shape shown, and are slide fittted together to complete the assembly of an opener 12.

Member 14 includes a top guide face 20, a left side wall 22, a rear wall 24 and a cutting surface 26. The front or cutting edge 28 of the cutting surface 26 is diagonally configured and aligned below the top guide face 20 and spaced therefrom by a distance greater than the multiple fold thicknesses of an ordinary cardboard box top. This diagonal cutting edge 28 is wholly under the extent of the top face 20 and may be fabricated as a folded continuation of the side wall 22. The edge 28 is sharpened to a cutting keenness necessary to cut through cardboard.

The other (outer) member 16 also has a top guide face 40, a side wall 42, a rear wall 44, and a cutting surface 46 spaced below and recessed below the top surface 40. As with the inner member 14, member 16 is fabricated with a diagonal edge 48 with its leading edge 49 adjacent its connection to the side wall 42. This cutting edge 43 is also sharpened to cutting keenness and is wholly below the area of top face 40 and within side wall 42. The shape of the member 16 is a mirror image of member 14 except that member 16 has inwardly turned flanges, one flange 50 at the bottom edge 52 of the rear wall 44. Flange 50 is designed to receive the bottom edge 54 of the rear wall 26 of member 14. A second flange 60 in the form of an inturned flap below the upper face 40 to slidingly maintain the front edge 62 of the inner member guide face 20. To effect the slide fit of inner member 14 within outer member 16, outer member 16, of necessity, must be slightly larger in size than the inner member 14 in width and length. The difference in size between members is on the order of the thickness of the members, which as mentioned is sheet material. The inner member 14 slides within the flanges or flaps ,until the rear wall flange 50 contacts the inturned tab 63 inward of rear wall 24 to constitute the smallest width of opener 12.

The two members are assembled into the unitary top opener 12 by sliding the left member 14 into the flanges 5t and 6d of right member 16 to cooperatively form a combined top guide surface 64 with the side surfaces 22 and 42 normal to the top surface 64 and the combined rear wall 66, normal to the top surface and the side walls. The side walls at the front ends include extensions 67 and 68 used to guide the opener 12 onto the box 141 to be opened. With the opener 12 assembled, the cutting edges 28 and 43 combine to extend across the entire opening between the side walls in substantially a horizontal cutting plane 76 with both edges closely adjacent one another to complete a single cut across the box 10 being opened. The slide action assembly of the opener 12 with the edges 52 and 62 of one rear wall and top Wall of member 14 sliding into the flanges 5i and 60 on the other member 16, provides an adjustable distance between the side walls allowing use of the opener on various size boxes.

Once an opener 12 has been assembled, the opener is placed on a box 10 to be opened. The side walls 22 and 42 are adjusted by squeezing them together to a dis- The invention claimed is: 1. An opener for rectangular containers comprising a V transversely disposed cutting surface, a transverse guide walls 76 a short distance below the box top surface 11. 7

Pressure is exerted on the'rear wall 66 of the opener 12 advancing the cutting plane 70 through the rear wall 74 and side Walls 76 of the cardboard box in the manner shown in FIGURE 1. This cutting continues until the rear wall 66 of the opener strikes the adjacent end wall 74 of the box. This terminates the out which. comprises a single cut along both side walls 76 and the end wall'74 of the box 10 allowing a large quantity of the box contents to be poured out at-one time. The size of this cut top portion is dependent on the length of the cutting edge 70 from its leading edge 49 to the trailing edge 3i? adshown in FIGURE 2. On closure of the opener on the. box, the rear wall 66 and the side walls 22 and 42 remain closely adjacent the box sides and substantially isolate the contents of the box from the ambient atmosphere.

In FIGURE 7, there is shown an alternative shape for the cutting edge of one member of an opener otherwise similar to that shown in the earlier embodiment. Thus in FIGURE 7, the member 140 includes a top face 142, a side Wall 144, a rear wall 146, and a cutting'blade 159. As can be seen, cutting blade 150 has an inwardly curved cutting edge 152 spaced below the top guide face 142 and otherwise secured to the member in the manner previous ly described for the diagonal blade. The blade 150 01" cutting surface may also be welded, riveted or otherwise secured to the side wall 144 or to both the side wall 144 and rear wall'140. The folded approach to the securementof the cutting blade has been. shown as one obvious expedient for connecting the blade to the opener.

to that previously described and acts to produce a good cutting action.

While there has been described what is at present thought to be, a preferred embodimentv of the invention, it will be understood that modifications may be made therein and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The: 'use of an opener with a curved'cutting blade is similar face spaced above said cutting surface, parallel thereto and extending past said edge, a rear wall of said opener joining said guide face with spaced apart side guide walls normal to said guide face and to said rear wall to en" close a rectangular shape therein, means for adjusting V the spacing between said side walls about a container to be opened, said guide face disposed to rest on a container top surface with said cutting surface spaced therebelow adjacent the rear wall of the container with the opener side walls guidingly adjacent the container side walls, said cutting surface responsive to pressure on the opener rear wall to advance through the rear and side walls of said container to form a flap extending between the cutting surface and the guide face of said opener, said opener responsive to movement of said flap about its connection to the container side walls to hingedly enclose the open top of said container.

'2. An opener for rectangular containers of cardboard: or the like, comprising a first member having a side wall,

a rear wall, a top guide surface, and a cutting edge parallel to said guide surface disposed below and insert from the lead edge of said guide surface, a second member configured as a mirror image of said first member and bottom rectangular figurefof said opener, means for slideably joining said member to produce an opener of adjustable width which may be fitted on thetop of containers to'be opened wherein said side walls fit about the side walls of the container and the top surface of said opener fits on the top of the container'to align the cutting edge along the container rear wall rearwardly of the leadingedge of the top guide surface and rearward of the leading edges of the side walls of the opener.

, 3. An opener as claimed in claim 2, in which the cutting edge of each of the members extends diagonally from adjacent the lead edge of the side wall to a trailing edge adjacent the rear wall, and said'diagonal edges ex: tend adjacent one another in a cross-like relation com-- prising a cutting plane for cutting through both side walls of the container simultaneously.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,108,431 2/38 Cornwall 229-7 2,263,353 11/41 Eidam; 229-51 2,282,150 5/42 Andary' n; 229-7 2,386,877 10/45 Neilson et al. 2297 FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN OPENER FOR RECTANGULAR CONTAINERS COMPRISING A TRANSVERSELY DISPOSED CUTTING SURFACE, A TRANSVERSE GUIDE FACE SPACED ABOVE SAID CUTTING SURFACE, PARALLEL THERETO AND EXTENDING PAST SAID EDGE, A REAR WALL OF SAID OPENER JOINING SAID GUIDE FACE WITH SPACED APART SIDE GUIDE WALLS NORMAL TO SAID GUIDE FACE AND TO SIAD REAR WALL TO ENCLOSE A RECTANGULAR SHAPE THEREIN, MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE SPACING BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS ABOUT A CONTAINER TO BE OPENED, SAID GUIDE FACE DISPOSED TO REST ON A CONTAINER TOP SURFACE WITH SAID CUTTING SURFACE SPACED THEREBELOW ADJACENT THE REAR WALL OF THE CONTAINER WITH THE OPENER SIDE WALLS GUIDINGLY ADJACENT THE CONTAINER SIDE WALLS, SAID CUTTING SURFACE RESPONSIVE TO PRESSURE ON THE OPENER REAR WALL TO ADVANCE THROUGH THE REAR AND SIDE WALLS OF THE CONTAINER TO FORM A FLAP EXTENDING BETWEEN THE CUTTING SURFACE AND THE GUIDE FACE OF THE OPENER, SAID OPENER RESPONSIVE TO MOVEMENT OF SIAD FLAP ABOUT ITS CONNECTION TO THE CONTAINER SIDE WALLS TO HINGEDLY ENCLOSE THE OPEN TOP OF SAID CONTAINER. 